Samsung Replenish video hands-on

It's been a couple weeks now since our Samsung Replenish initial review, forged from a barstool in Midtown Manhattan, so it's time to take another look at Sprint's new eco-friendly phone. (It's made of 80 percent recycled material!)

And our initial impressions pretty much remain the same. You've got a mid-level Android smartphone (it's running Android 2.2.2 with a 600MHz Samsung processor) with a small 2.8-inch touchscreen and an pretty good physical keyboard.

So you'll be banging out messages left and right on the Replenish. That's a given, right? But let's talk turkey. Or, rather, Angry Birds. As you'll see in the video, Angry Birds runs just fine, but it suffers like most other apps on a phone like this -- the 320x240 resolution just doesn't get it done anymore. That's a trade-off you're just going to have to make, apparently, if you want a portrait keyboard (ie BlackBerry-esque) on an Android smartphone. And it's a shame, really, cause it's a form factor we really do want to get behind, and it could go a long way toward eating into RIM's dwindling-but-still-prevalent market share.

If you're looking for an Android phone with a front-QWERTY keyboard and the familiar "chirp-chirp" of Nextel Direct Connect, you've just found it in the Motorola Titanium. It's got a 3.1-inch touchscreen, Android 2.1 and is military-spec'd for dust, shock, vibration, low pressure, solar radiation, high temperature and low temperature. In other words, it'll survive a week at a smartphone trade show.

Other features for the Titanium, which is the follow-up to the Motorola i1, include:

Support for Nextel Direct Connect Services, including Direct Connect, Group Connect®, International Direct Connect®, DirectSendSM, Group Messaging and NextMail®

Android Market for access to more than 150,000 applications, widgets and games available for download

Motorola XPRT brings a familiar face to Sprint, along with worldwide coverage

A proper (and secure) Android phone for business has left many a suit wanting. But Motorola and Sprint aim to change that with the new Motorola XPRT. Basically it's the Droid Pro we've come to know on Verizon, tweaked for Sprint and beefed up with some serious enterprise features.

The XPRT sports Android 2.2 and the same 3.1-inch touchscreen and 1GHz processor as the Droid Pro. (Read our full review.) It is a full world phone -- meaning you can take it to any GSM network (outside the United States, presumably) and have full connectivity. Want more specs? Here you go.

Android Market™ for access to more than 150,000 applications, widgets and games available for download

Bring old unlocked phones to Google IO for the 'Android for Good' program

For those of you who love Google and almost everything they do (see: all of us), you're going to love this next bit.

Google is continuing its "Android for Good" program at Google I/O 2011 next week (we'll be there, by the way), meaning if you bring an unlocked device (like the G1, Nexus One, or Nexus S, for those of us here in the States) in good working condition, you can donate it and make sure someone in a developing country receives an Android smartphone.

There you have it, folks. Let's start changing lives, one Android phone at a time.

HTC Sensation clears the FCC, T-Mobile radios confirmed

The HTC PG58100 (also known as the HTC Sensation) has officially cleared the FCC, making it legal to sell in the United States, which is good, because T-Mobile totally is going to sell it in the United States. Other documents at the FCC show that both front and rear cameras exist, as well as the standard Wifi and Bluetooth radios, which, of course, the Sensation (and just about every other new phone) has. This doesn't mean we'll be seeing it on the store shelves any time soon -- that part's up to the carriers.

There's some confusion out there about the PG58100 being the HTC Doubleshot (aka the MyTouch 4G Slide). It's not. We're talking two different phones here. The phone that just passed the FCC today is the HTC Sensation, according to the model number. The Doubleshot's leaked files show it to have PG59100 as it's model number, and there's no record of that one at the FCC just yet. The confusion is understandable considering the sheer numbers of Android phones and the cryptic code names they all use. (Just ask Phil; he mutters them in his sleep. Or so I'm told.)

Enabling search history for your account could certainly come in handy for someone who let's say, typed in an address on their phone, but wants to recall the address on another device at a later date. In other words, it basically centralizes your search history even more so you don't have to go looking all over the place for information you've already accessed.

The extra business details Google threw in for us include the star rating beneath the business name in the main map view, nice, and an aptly named "Details" section when you tap on the business for more info. On a restaurant, for example, this adds the type of cuisine, parking, and meals served along with the year opened and neighborhood.

However, the real winner here looks to be the addition of reporting a destination that's not where Google Maps Navigation dumped you off. This is a nice add-on seeking to improve the Navigation's accuracy even further. If Google Maps has ever strayed me afar, I can't recall but in those rare circumstances some of us experience where something has disappeared, moved, or simply is not there/never was there, you can report it and Google will do their best to fix it.

Open up the Market on your phone and get your update on or hit up the links past the break.

ThunderBolt update unofficially delayed, or at least is very, very slow

In case the sight of several thousand HTC ThunderBolt owners either twiddling their thumbs or jamming them obsessively on the "Check for update" button wasn't enough for you, it appears that the 1.13.605.7 update for the 'Bolt has been delayed. That's the update that Verizon's Twitter support account said was pushing out starting yesterday, and the one that nobody has seen either hide or hair of since.

No word yet if this has anything to do with Verizon's LTE crash last week, or if it's some other showstopper bug that must have cropped up in the last minute. Stay tuned, folks.

O2 UK Xperia Play release date slips to June

British network O2 has posted another update on its efforts to get the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play released to its customers. Software bugs resulted in the O2-branded Xperia Play missing its launch date of April 1, and now it looks like the first PlayStation-certified smartphone won't be making an appearance on O2 until next month.

Writing on the carrier's official blog, O2's Head of Testing, Stuart Hibberd said that all of the bugs identified back in late March are now either fixed, or in the process of being fixed. When launch day eventually rolls around, O2 will offer the standard black Xperia Play, along with an exclusive white version.

Samsung Droid Charge review

It's big, it's bright, it's fast — but is it worthy of the Droid name?

How many 4.3-inch 4G LTE smartphones does Verizon need? How many you got? Because with the launch of the Samsung Droid Charge, Big Red now has a pair of large, fast Android 2.2 smartphones.

The Droid Charge finds itself coming into existence at a weird time. It was announced at CES in early January 2011. And now, four months later, finally is coming to market. And in that time we've seen Samsung unleash the likes of the Galaxy S II which is, in a word -- sexy.

So we've got a few reservations. A few worries. One is in Verizon's LTE network and its ramifications on hardware. While it's blazing fast, it'll drain a battery faster than a blogger drains a beer. And another is in Samsung's perceived inability to update the software on its phones in a timely fashion. Whether or not that's true, well, that's another matter.

EA bags Firemint, developer of Flight Control, others

Electronic Arts Inc. will be adding Australian-based developer Firemint Pty Ltd. to its list of studios. Firemint, if you've been out of the mobile gaming loop lately, is the genius behind the game Flight Control, among others. Although financial details remain under wraps, we do know the nearly 60 people employed at Firemint will still operate out of Melbourne with their aim to keep business running as usual, primarily utilizing EA to build their games. This will free up those valuable Aussie minds to crank out more awesomesauce for us to delight in. EA's motive in this acquisition is to increase the amount of talent at their disposal to continue producing top tier games and take their creativity to the next level.

Also worth taking note of, EA scooped up Mobile Post Production Inc. not too long ago. MPP was touted as "the worldwide leader in high quality cross-platform development and porting of games for smartphones." This, in combination with the addition of Firemint, signifies a big mobile development push on EA's part.

Firemint's CEO Rob Murray says, "we have an exciting slate and I think people will be pleasantly surprised with our games this year." So mates, keep your eyes peeled for some great stuff coming from some great places.

What's a PRL?

If you're on Sprint or Verizon, or another CDMA-based network, you might have heard the term PRL thrown around once or twice. It stands for Preferred Roaming List, and it's basically a way of telling your phone phone where to look for a signal so that you get faster, better connections.

Motorola Atrix now available in the UK

Motorola's dual-core Atrix has launched in the UK, exclusively on the Orange network for the time being. Orange is offering the Atrix for free on 24-month contracts of £35 per month, which includes 600 minutes, unlimited SMS, 50 MMS and a 750MB data allowance.

Cheaper contracts are available, and you can expect to pay between £50 and £200 for the phone itself if you opt for one of these. Orange is also offering the Motorola's "Lapdock" alongside the Atrix, though this'll set you back a slightly eye-watering £299.99 (~$500).

To find out whether the Atrix (and Lapdock) is worth your hard-earned cash, be sure to check out our review of the Atrix 4G, AT&T's HSPA+ version of the phone.

The top Android airline apps

Whether you're always on the go, or are just an occasional traveler, having the correct application on your device can change the whole experience of the travel. Keeping up to date with real time flight information, maps of the airport, and even weather of the city you are traveling to are features that are found in various airline applications in the Android market. Let's hit the jump to check out some of the various airline applications from around the world.

Android Quick App: Death Worm

I don't game often on my EVO, but when I do, I want it to be epic. Sure, there's games like Dungeon Defenders, but sometimes that just doesn't hit the sweet spot. Not enough of that Dune feeling, I suppose.

Fortunately, the aptly-named Death Worm remedies that. With 45 levels, three different types of gameplay, an entire myriad of enemies, and HD support, I feel like I picked a real winner here. Plus, the whole Dune thing helped.

Join me after the break and I'll take you through the finer points of being a gigantic, nigh-unstoppable worm that destroys everything in its path.

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